Ahead of Tuesday’s all-party meeting on Telangana, the Centre on Sunday came under immense pressure from students in the Telangana region to move forward on its statehood commitment. The pro-Telangana voices demanded a legislation in Parliament for the creation of a separate state and asked for a time-frame from the Centre for the same.
The ‘Vidyarthi Garjana’ (students’ roar for Telangana) saw a massive congregation of young activists at the Osmania University (OU) campus on Sunday evening. Lakhs of students from the 10 districts of Telangana gathered at OU. They said there was no need for a resolution in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly for creation of Telangana.
The mere fact of their showing up in large numbers was itself a message to both the Congress-led UPA at the Centre as well as Telangana’s political leaders that, for them, there could be no going back on the statehood promise. They warned TDP’s N Chandrababu Naidu PRP’s Chiranjeevi not to vacillate or make U-turns on the issue of creation of Telangana. Some of the speakers even spoke of razing Gandhi Bhawan, the state Congress headquarters, and NTR Bhawan, the TDP’s head office, if Telangana was not created. Poet Varavara Rao, who addressed the meet, said it was the right of Telangana people to fight for a separate state and to free themselves from the “exploitation” of coastal Andhra and Rayalseema. Meanwhile, TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao, who has emerged as the political face of the Telangana movement, left for New Delhi to attend Tuesday’s meeting to be attended by all political parties from Andhra Pradesh convened by Union home minister P Chidambaram. He said he would meet leaders like RJD’s Lalu Prasad, RLD’s Ajit Singh and NCP’s Sharad Pawar to convince them about the need for a resolution in Parliament on Telangana.
But on Sunday, the focus was on the students’ meeting in Hyderabad. Osmania University Students Joint Action Committee (JAC) alleged that hundreds of students were being stopped from reaching the meeting venue by police at various places in the Telangana region. The Andhra Pradesh High Court had given conditional permission to the JAC to hold the meeting after the Hyderabad police commissioner had denied them permission fearing a law and order problem. However, court allowed the ‘garjana’ but with conditions which stipulated a time-limit for the meeting and directed against rallies, provocative speeches, presence of political leaders. The show of strength by the students has put the Centre in a difficult position as a move by it to delay the Telangana process is bound to invite a strong reaction from them. The January 5 meeting has therefore assumed significance as it will be watched closely to gauge the Centre’s intentions on the vexed statehood issue. Finding a middle ground would be difficult for the Centre as most parties, including the ruling Congress and the main opposition, the TDP, are split down the middle. What will put even more pressure on the Centre is that the discussions in the Capital will be held in the backdrop of a shutdown in the entire state. Both the Telangana and anti-Telangana groups have issued ‘rail-and-road roko’ calls for Tuesday.
The ‘Vidyarthi Garjana’ (students’ roar for Telangana) saw a massive congregation of young activists at the Osmania University (OU) campus on Sunday evening. Lakhs of students from the 10 districts of Telangana gathered at OU. They said there was no need for a resolution in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly for creation of Telangana.
The mere fact of their showing up in large numbers was itself a message to both the Congress-led UPA at the Centre as well as Telangana’s political leaders that, for them, there could be no going back on the statehood promise. They warned TDP’s N Chandrababu Naidu PRP’s Chiranjeevi not to vacillate or make U-turns on the issue of creation of Telangana. Some of the speakers even spoke of razing Gandhi Bhawan, the state Congress headquarters, and NTR Bhawan, the TDP’s head office, if Telangana was not created. Poet Varavara Rao, who addressed the meet, said it was the right of Telangana people to fight for a separate state and to free themselves from the “exploitation” of coastal Andhra and Rayalseema. Meanwhile, TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao, who has emerged as the political face of the Telangana movement, left for New Delhi to attend Tuesday’s meeting to be attended by all political parties from Andhra Pradesh convened by Union home minister P Chidambaram. He said he would meet leaders like RJD’s Lalu Prasad, RLD’s Ajit Singh and NCP’s Sharad Pawar to convince them about the need for a resolution in Parliament on Telangana.
But on Sunday, the focus was on the students’ meeting in Hyderabad. Osmania University Students Joint Action Committee (JAC) alleged that hundreds of students were being stopped from reaching the meeting venue by police at various places in the Telangana region. The Andhra Pradesh High Court had given conditional permission to the JAC to hold the meeting after the Hyderabad police commissioner had denied them permission fearing a law and order problem. However, court allowed the ‘garjana’ but with conditions which stipulated a time-limit for the meeting and directed against rallies, provocative speeches, presence of political leaders. The show of strength by the students has put the Centre in a difficult position as a move by it to delay the Telangana process is bound to invite a strong reaction from them. The January 5 meeting has therefore assumed significance as it will be watched closely to gauge the Centre’s intentions on the vexed statehood issue. Finding a middle ground would be difficult for the Centre as most parties, including the ruling Congress and the main opposition, the TDP, are split down the middle. What will put even more pressure on the Centre is that the discussions in the Capital will be held in the backdrop of a shutdown in the entire state. Both the Telangana and anti-Telangana groups have issued ‘rail-and-road roko’ calls for Tuesday.
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